Over my decades of teaching Mandarin Chinese, I noticed that students (especially the male ones) had either already learned a few rude words (swear words, insults) before they started to learn Chinese, or were keen to be acquainted with them, as if that was a measure of how un-textbook their Chinese is.
One of those rude words is 王八 wáng bā for “tortoise; cuckold; male brothel-owner”.
The “tortoise” bit is easy enough to explain:
- The plastron (underside part) of the tortoise looks like the character 王 wáng / king; surname Wang
- The two ends (with the legs sticking out at an angle) look like the character 八 bā / eight.
It’s a term used by ancient northern Chinese people for referring to the tortoise.
But why does “tortoise” in this context have a derogatory connotation?
According to my superficial research, 王八 was originally a scoundrel called 王建 Wáng Jiàn, nicknamed 王八 Wang No.8 by people as he was the eighth child. So, there’s the link between 王八 and 王八蛋 “scoundrel egg” / bastard.
Another angle on it is: during the 明清 Ming Qing (1368–1911) times, 王八 wáng bā / “Wang No.8” became 忘八 wàng bā / “forget eight”.
忘八 wàng bā / “forget eight” refers to forgetting the eight moral virtues of 孝悌忠信禮義廉恥 / 孝悌忠信礼义廉耻 xiào tì zhōng xìn lǐ yì lián chǐ, or forgetting the eighth moral virtue of 耻 chǐ / [sense of] shame.
- 孝 xiào / filial piety (one’s duty towards one’s parents and ancestors)
- 悌 tì / love and respect for one’s elder brother(s) (note the gender- and positioning-specific element; one doesn’t need to exercise this quality of behaviour towards one’s younger male siblings nor female ones, both older and younger)
- 忠 zhōng / loyalty
- 信 xìn / trustworthiness
- 禮/礼 lǐ / propriety, etiquette
- 義/义 yì / [sense of] justice, moral righteousness
- 廉 lián / honesty, integrity
- 耻 chǐ / [sense of] shame
If one has forgotten the eight moral virtues, then one deserves to be called a scoundrel. If one has forgotten the eighth moral virtue of 耻 chǐ / [sense of] shame, then one is shameless.
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